


With Tooth And Claw

by rainproof



Series: Earth-1796 [9]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Earth-1796, Family, Fluff, Love, spoilers for Thor: The Dark World, tea and rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 06:58:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1769881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainproof/pseuds/rainproof
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I should feel much relief, knowing that you are here guarding our dear ones with tooth and claw.”</p><p> </p><p>Spoilers for Thor: The Dark World, minor non-plot-related spoilers for 1796 Broadway ch. 480.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Tooth And Claw

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [1796 Broadway](https://archiveofourown.org/works/972937) by [rainproof](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainproof/pseuds/rainproof), [teaberryblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaberryblue/pseuds/teaberryblue). 



> Oh look I accidentally thorficced...
> 
> ...sometime back in February. I've been waiting months to hit this point in 1796, but we're finally here! \o/

Rain fell outside in soft gray sheets, whispering softly off the leaves and blossoms of the gardens, tremulous puddles flooding the courtyard beyond the windows. 

It was natural rain of a sort that often fell in Midgard, far different from the eternal sunshine of Asgard. Jane loved it – had she been home she would have cracked the windows despite the cold and wrapped herself in the oversized blanket her mother had crafted and spent the day sipping tea and reading. Sometimes she Thor to settle his head in the curve of her lap and rest as her mug-warm fingers scratched soft circles against his scalp. 

Reading in silence was a custom that lay far from Thor’s general interests – sedate and calm, devoid of the energetic passion he endeavored to apply to all things. Still, with Jane gone to Seattle to pitch a joint research proposal and the house laying empty he found he missed the intimacy of their habitual pastime.

Thor very carefully filled the hotpot, waited until it boiled, and selected Jane’s most beloved blend of spicy herbs and blossoms. He’d watched her many times and so measured out the correct amount of leafy flakes for steeping, dropping them into the tiny metal basket and the basket into the teapot. Taking the pot and one of his favorite wooden mug, he deposited himself on the selfsame couch, missing the weight of her at the other end. The book she left perched on the arm of the couch was open halfway through, so he noted the page number and then flipped to the beginning. _Space Chronicles_ , by Neil Degrasse Tyson.

He quickly lost himself therein, puzzling over the strange Midgardian terms for concepts so simple that the children of Asgard studied them at the age of twelve, chuckling at the questions and answers they pieced together. It was enlightening, this study of study – it made to many errant, odd behaviors and beliefs grow transparent, a fogged windowpane clearing as the sun burned—

“Prrrr,” said Knut The Viking Chieftain, eyes appearing over the top of his book. 

“Hello my little friend,” Thor laughed. “Are you here to keep me company?”

“Mrow.” She began chewing on the corner of the pages in exactly the way Jane despised. 

“Come, come,” Thor shifted, settling the book on the table and taking another sip of tea. “I know how you love to be contrary – give me this moment of peace.”

The cat ignored him completely, so he scooped a hand under the blanket, twitching his fingers beneath the folds. That got her attention – slowly swelling as she was, Knut was a warrior at heart and seized any opportunity to play.

She lowered her body, hindquarters trembling, claws flexing against the blankets, and pounced. They tussled for a few minutes, Thor skittering his fingers at the edges of her vision, her twirling clumsily to attack, moving with quick intensity. Her tail lashed back and forth and her wild eyes flooded with wide, black pupils – but the excitement eventually subsided and she settled herself across his stomach, allowing him to scratch the places that she could not reach alone.

Thor ran his nails against the soft, warm fur behind her ears, just the way Jane did for him. “I confess, my small one, your presence has been a great comfort to me these many weeks,” he admitted, smiling as she butted her head into his palm with gusto. “Particularly with Jane away.”

Knut the Viking Chieftain began to purr, paws digging and retracting as though she dreamt of evisceration. 

“It is difficult for me to see her go, even knowing her return will be soon,” Thor sighed, sipping from his mug. “She will be safer far afield, spared the questionable security of this place while I attend to this Avengers business in Egypt.”

He sat silently, listening to her throaty purrs. “In the months since my Mother’s death, I feel a… a great urge, a great need to keep her as near to me as I can. I wish to travel with her, to strike fear into the hearts of her enemies, to make them see the greatness of her Grant Propositions.”

His fingers slowed, and Knut cracked an irritated eye at him.

“How many centuries did I enjoy my mother’s warmth?” Thor considered, softly. “The light of her smile, the comfort of her embrace. I thought them endless in my youth, as solid and sure as the sun overhead or the ground beneath my feet, but they were not – and never were. When she was taken from me, I filled with such rage and tears. 

“It’s easy to forget that every man must, one day, bury his mother - something we all share, in the end. Would that I had, here with me, the man I wish to share my grief with, above all others.”

In the silence that followed Knut the Viking Chieftain began licking his fingers.

Thor thumbed her jaw softly “My family has grown small. Perhaps that is why I take such joy in your swelling belly. It is a reminder; we are capable of producing something tiny and beautiful, even in the depths of grief.”

The cat rolled her head thoughtfully against his navel. “Mrow.”

Thor moved on sliding his nails down her spine to scratch at the point where tail and hips met. Her long, lean leg stretched out against his shirt, claws snagging until he thumbed the hem off their points.

“As desirous as I am of Jane’s company, I know I must allow her to do as she will,” he mused. “Her life is so short, the fluttering of her mind so light and fleeting. I must cradle her with care, allowing her to do as she will within the bounds of my protection. It feels at times like keeping a bird in a cage.”

Knut closed her eyes again, tail twitching. “Mwreh.”

Jane was a kind spirit, truly dedicated to her scholarly craft. Watching her mind grow and expand as she drank in the knowledge their excursion to Asgard had made available was something that gave Thor endless pleasure. “I often ask myself if allowing the feeling between us to grow is not a choice most selfish.”

Knut began to knead her tiny pinprick claws into his thigh. She was a pretty, bright thing with secret sharp edges – Thor had always had a weakness for that sort.

“Selfish too, I believe, would be asking her for a son.”

The cat hiccupped, rolled to her back, and sank her tiny teeth into his fingers. 

Swearing, Thor jerked his hand away – the action only served to leave prickly red tracks down the back of his hand, just below the knuckles.

“Odin’s beard – I forget your teeth are sharp,” he muttered into the back of his hand, mouthing at scrape. “Are you afraid your place in my heart would be usurped, small one? You need not worry. For all your …less endearing traits, you are no less dear to me than Jane, than my own father.”

He lapsed into a broody silence, scratching his stinging hand through his beard. “I must confess, dear one, that I cannot find it within myself to speak my desires. If I feel unfit to rule as a king, why should I take on a far greater responsibility in raising a child? And should Asgard need me, I must away for any length of time, leaving her alone again with heavier burdens than ever before.” 

He sighed and gingerly – very gingerly – extended his hand once again.

“At least I will have your whelps to bring up,” he teased, smirking as Knut the (extremely fickle) Viking Chieftain rubbed her cheek sweetly against his knuckles, again the very picture of affection. 

Thor licked his lips. “Will you make me to me a promise, Knut?”

“Prrrt?” the cat asked, licking the pad of his thumb, where bloody tooth marks were rapidly vanishing.

“Watch over my friends. I am away to Egypt, and knowing the pantheon that brews there, my path is unlikely to be simple or direct. I should feel much relief, knowing that you are here, guarding our dear ones with tooth and claw.”

The cat huffed a bit, put out by his constant rumbling of demands, but gave his thumb one final lick, as though to say _fine._

“Very good, friend,” Thor tapped her on the nose, then moved on to curl his fingers beneath the ridge of her collar, scratching the skin tucked away there.

“For now, at least, we may celebrate and enjoy, knowing that the end of this story has not yet played out.” 

Knut fell asleep on his knees, leaving Thor unwilling to move or shift from his corner of the couch. He lay with the book open against the spine of the couch, gazing out the window at the rain, until long after his tea had cooled.


End file.
